Cristine Brache

‘Nekama’ is a virtual world, an infectious model of trans-individual identity and proliferates as such, embodied by self-replicating twin sisters in an impossible archipelago of wasted jungle that is massively undergrown by fungi. To enter, one must take on the face of the twin; to play, one must become many.

The director’s grandmother shares the story of being committed to a mental hospital in 1961 after seeing a doctor for inexplicable nausea.

A guidance hotline operator simultaneously sells realizations and jewelry to vulnerable people who have trouble manifesting their innermost wants and needs; a woman realizes she is a dog and a man deeply explores his obsession with a woman named Necklace.

Carmen (2023) delves into familial themes of intergenerational trauma and the tensions that arise when traditional mother-daughter roles are reversed. Set in Miami in 2002, the film follows 21-year-old Lazara as she navigates a chaotic relationship with her manic-depressive mother, Carmen. While Lazara attempts to assert her independence, she is continually drawn into her mother’s unstable world, shaped by the lingering effects of domestic violence. Carmen’s unpredictable behavior disrupts Lazara’s fragile autonomy, dragging her into dangerous situations, such as transporting prescription drugs hidden in children’s toys. As Lazara’s life begins to unravel, the film moves beyond the personal, exposing deeper systemic fractures within family structures. Brache delves into the emotional and psychological complexities of these role inversions, using Carmen as a critical lens to examine how family dynamics are shaped and strained by broader social and cultural forces. - Amant

‘Nekama’ is a virtual world, an infectious model of trans-individual identity and proliferates as such, embodied by self-replicating twin sisters in an impossible archipelago of wasted jungle that is massively undergrown by fungi. To enter, one must take on the face of the twin; to play, one must become many.

The director’s grandmother shares the story of being committed to a mental hospital in 1961 after seeing a doctor for inexplicable nausea.

A guidance hotline operator simultaneously sells realizations and jewelry to vulnerable people who have trouble manifesting their innermost wants and needs; a woman realizes she is a dog and a man deeply explores his obsession with a woman named Necklace.

Carmen (2023) delves into familial themes of intergenerational trauma and the tensions that arise when traditional mother-daughter roles are reversed. Set in Miami in 2002, the film follows 21-year-old Lazara as she navigates a chaotic relationship with her manic-depressive mother, Carmen. While Lazara attempts to assert her independence, she is continually drawn into her mother’s unstable world, shaped by the lingering effects of domestic violence. Carmen’s unpredictable behavior disrupts Lazara’s fragile autonomy, dragging her into dangerous situations, such as transporting prescription drugs hidden in children’s toys. As Lazara’s life begins to unravel, the film moves beyond the personal, exposing deeper systemic fractures within family structures. Brache delves into the emotional and psychological complexities of these role inversions, using Carmen as a critical lens to examine how family dynamics are shaped and strained by broader social and cultural forces. - Amant